Obamacare opponents stage ‘Papa John’s Appreciation Day’

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 09: A sign hangs in the window of a Papa Johns pizza restaurant on August 9, 2012 in New York City. Papa JohnÕs chief executive, John Schnatter, has stated that due to U.S. President Barack Obama's controversial health-care law he will need to raise costs by 15 to 20 cents a pizza. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Obamacare opponents have declared Friday “Papa John’s Appreciation Day,” supporting the pizza chain’s announcement that the president’s health care law will result in higher costs and force the company to increase consumer costs and cut employee hours.

“Papa Johns has been targeted by the left for a boycott, for simply articulating that ObamaCare would hurt profits and force cutbacks in employee hours,” the movement’s Facebook group, organized by the organization Rebooting America, reads. “Stand up to this nonsensical and illogical action and support Papa Johns this Friday!”

More than 20,000 Facebook users have pledged to participate.

Comparing their effort to the support conservatives showed Chick-fil-A during the summer for that fast food chain’s position on gay marriage, the Papa John’s effort aims to generate business for the 2,600 U.S. Papa John’s locations “like we flooded Chick-Fil-A.”

Papa John’s founding John Schnatter explained in a conference call last week that increased costs related to Obamacare will result in price increases of 11 to 14 cents per pizza.

“We’re not supportive of Obamacare, like most businesses in our industry. But our business model and unit economics are about as ideal as you can get for a food company to absorb Obamacare,” he said according to Politico.

“If Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders’ best interests,” Schnatter added.

“Schattner has received intense media scrutiny in addition to being demonized as an evil rich guy by the Left. Obamacare is a fiscal nightmare and because of it, many small businesses aren’t hiring now,” the Facebook page adds. “Some are even closing their doors. Obamacare is now, as John Boehner said, ‘the law of the land.'”

If supporters live too far away from a Papa John’s, according to the Facebook page, they can participate on Twitter with the hashtag #IStandWithPapaJohns. Others who are participating by buying pizza on Friday are being encouraged to purchase an additional pizza for those in need.